Can Small Businesses Afford A Web Site?
The next question is whether the cost of a web site puts
it out of the range of those businesses. To answer that question, We looked to expenditures on similar
needs for advertising, marketing, or customer support.
Here are some examples of costs just for printing and
distribution -- not including creating more than a basic advertisement or logo:
Advertising in the Yellow Pages of a somewhat large city
(Columbus): $16/month for a regular one line listing, $110/month for a 1" space ad, $1,346/month for a half
page ad; a bold, one-line White Pages listing runs $24.50/month.
Ad in a small, local suburban newspaper: $10-$30 per
column inch per insertion. (A column inch is about 2.062" wide and 1" high -- a regular business card is about
2" by 3.5": $35-$105 each time it appears.) Spot color can add $100 per color. Big city newspapers are much
more expensive: $300 or more for a column inch.
Printing business cards: $20-$100, stationery (letterhead
and envelopes): $200-$300. Brochures can be much more expensive. Mailing is postage plus labor to address and
stuff in an envelope. Including all the costs, a simple brochure can cost a few dollars each time someone
requests one to be sent out.
Total newspaper advertising revenue in 2000 was $49
billion (national and local advertising) -- $4.2 billion more than broadcast TV. Local Yellow Pages advertising
was $11.1 billion (national Yellow Pages advertising was $2.1 billion).
Marketing costs for a full-service restaurant are 3% of
sales -- $167 per seat. "Advertising services purchased from outside companies" among all restaurants were 2.4%
of sales. In a supermarket, advertising is 4% of sales, the same as rent.
According to the National Restaurant Association, about
half of all full-service restaurants have a web site. "Such sites primarily offer consumers information about
the restaurant and provide location details," they say.
Compared to these expenditures, a $10-35/year domain name,
$10-100/month web site, or even a $1000/year fee for special placement in a targeted directory web site, is not
very much. That tiny home care, funeral home, or dance studio ad in the town newspaper next to the list of
police activities or local high school sports could cost $300 per month or more. If they included a "See our
web site for more information" instead of some of the text they could pay for the web site just in saved
space.
Also, like other forms of marketing and customer
relations, web sites can be effective ways to spend money. They are good for reaching new customers, supporting
current customers, and reducing costs associated with responding to other types of inquiries (e.g., telephone
questions, including mailing brochures).
